Thursday, March 28, 2013

A Clean Shop Is A Happy Shop

   This morning I got up and got ready for work as I always do. Made the 30 minute drive to the shop, counted my cash drawer and started cleaning before opening the shop.

   Several times I sweep and mop the shop, dust the whole shop and clean the windows. Right now while it is just me at the barbershop sometimes it takes me a little longer to make sure everything gets done but it gets done.

   The first thing a customer sees when they walk in the door or more importantly sit at your station is how clean it is. For myself I work my butt off to keep a clean almost spotless workspace and I keep the shop as clean as I can. I want people to know they are coming into a shop where people take pride in what they do.

   When I first started cutting hair in California the first shop I worked at had 8 chairs and was charging $4.50 for a haircut. Piles of hair on the floor and no care in people's work area. One day with a few minutes of down time I pulled the cushion out of my chair and there was almost a 1/2 of hair clippings wedged between the chair and the cushion (so gross). When you are doing 15-29 haircuts a day you need to change the jar of herbicide a little more often then normal and so I stated changing it daily. The owner did not appreciate this because she did not want to pay for more herbicide so I stated to bring my own barbicide so i could change it daily. The crazy old lady even had the nerve to say "I pay you to cut, not to clean".

    If you are in a low volume shop it is easy to keep a clean shop and there is not excuse to have a dirty shop. If you work in a high volume shop at times it is a little more difficult but it is just as important to keep a clean shop/work space.
  
    Clean tools, clean shop and a clean work space makes for a good work environment and happy customers (at least I hope).